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Super Bowl, Super Bored

Super Bowl, Super Bored

February 14, 2025

Super Bowl Blowouts Aren’t Fun, Let’s Not Do That Again

No matter who you are, you never want the Super Bowl to be a blowout. What’s interesting to me is that, despite the score being 24-0 at halftime, Super Bowl LIX became the most-watched Super Bowl yet—127.7 million viewers. Kendrick drew in the largest crowd for a halftime show since Michael Jackson in 1993. Staggering viewership numbers for a game that was completely out of reach by halftime.

I do think there were some really interesting developments to come out of this year’s game—and I’m not talking about the design of the score overlay. (Fox, not sure what you were thinking with that one.)

This Year’s Super Bowl Was More Accessible Than Ever

I think something that sticks out to me was the accessibility of Super Bowl LIX compared to previous years. Fans could watch the Super Bowl without needing to pay if they streamed it on Tubi (which claims to have added another 15M views to the game). Last year the Super Bowl was available on Paramount +, but you still needed a subscription to watch the game. The game was also available on YouTube if you had NFL Sunday Ticket.

Creators Were Featured More Than Ever

As I was watching the ads, it was obvious to me how many brands relied on traditional celebrities. However, this year, I felt like there was a clear emphasis on creators during ads as well. Carl’s Jr featured Alix Earle, Poppi had Jake Shane, and Druski was in the Dunkin’ ad with Ben Affleck. It was also fun to see creators reacting to their ads.

Poppi Ad

The Cost of a Super Bowl Ad

The average cost of a 30-second Super Bowl ad this year was $8 million. (I’ve noticed a trend where the price doubles every 10 years.)

I feel like it’s hard to determine an ad’s value based on CPMs alone. The Super Bowl is a cultural event that only happens once a year, and a majority of people show up for the commercials themselves. The commercials are almost as important as the game—the price can’t be defined by viewership alone. There’s also the added impressions on social media after the commercials air—Nike and Duncan saw an added 40M impressions, a 25% increase.

Source: Nielsen

The price of an ad has basically doubled from a decade ago, but the viewership of the Super Bowl hasn’t. This leads me to believe that the demand for a Super Bowl commercial just goes up every year, which explains the steep price this year.

The Big Takeaway…

As bad as the game was, this Super Bowl felt unique—with more ways to watch, more creators featured, and an even more expensive ad buy compared to the previous year. I also expect more and more creators to be featured in ads moving forward. It’s hard to determine whether a Super Bowl ad is the best use of your budget, but if you can afford it, I think it’s worth it.

And to end this, these are my 3 favorite Super Bowl ads this year…

1️⃣ Dunkin

2️⃣ Ram Trucks

3️⃣ Uber Eats

Team Kai vs. Team Speed Flag Football
Closer than the actual Super Bowl.

Complex Drops Streamers You Need to Know
We recognize a few of those streamers 🤔

TikTok is F*ckin Back
Think of all those people who bid on phones with TikTok installed on them from eBay.